Sunset! - 3years 6months old

Zo Ee at 3years 6months old. (30th October 2011)

I'm drawing Sunset, Mum! I like the colour combination used by her, just very sunset.

Crossing over Puzzle - 3years 6months old

Zo Ee at 3years 6months old. (29th October 2011)

A classic math problem about a man trying to get a goat, a cabbage, and a wolf across a river. There is only space for the man and one other thing in the boat. If the wolf and the goat are left together, the wolf will eat the goat, if the cabbage and goat are alone, the goat will eat the cabbage. How does he get all three across the river?

A friend posted this online and was surprised as to how her two children solve it differently. S0 I was curious whether Zo Ee will understand such puzzle and somehow she managed to get the answer correctly. I think it's a combination of luck with some reasoning skill but I still and won't believe that she could solve it since she is only 3years 6months old. Initially, she couldn't reason anything out by just listening to the question. So I drew it out for her. She was able to see it clearer with the drawing. Immediately she said Goat should cross first. I'm not sure why, maybe it was luck. Next was to bring the cabbage over. Followed by the wolf later. That's when I interfered, reminding her that that will not be possible as the goat will eat the cabbage while the man went back to get the wolf. They shouldn't be left alone together. She paused to think and before finally telling me that the man should bring the goat back across the river. Dropped the goat so that he can bring the wolf across and finally back to get the goat again. She got it and was proudly telling DH the answer.

Chatty Zo Ee - 3years 6months old

Zo Ee at 3years 6months old. (29th October 2011)

I was pretty mad at Zo Ee for messing the house. She did some craft work, and pieces of papers are all over the dining hall, together with her stationeries - colours, pencils, containers to hold her cut out pieces, toys etc. Just a Mess. I told her to tidy up or else I will pick them up and throw them into the dustbin. She started picking up a little before telling me this, " Mum! Mum! You shouldn't throw my toys and stationery into the dustbin. They are not waste! You only throw waste into the dustbin. It will be a waste to throw them away. We shouldn't waste food or anything at all. "

I don't really remember when she started saying something like this (I'm guessing since 3 years 3months old.) When I told her that she can choose only one drink from the menu while dining out, this is her usual reply. " Mum, I'll have mango milkshakes and you will have ice lemon tea. I think you will like the Ice Lemon Tea. Then, we can share. You will have some of mine and I'll have some of yours." This happened to food too. She will ask us to order two or three of her choices, then DH will be included in her list.

First Story - 3years 6months old

Zo Ee at 3years 6months old. (23rd October 2011)

I think it's cool to see Zo Ee's first writing. Is this a 3.5years old spurt? I have yet to see any sentences from her and she skipped wrting sentences and straight into her very first story. She did ask me to spell the words knocking, blasting and sound for her. The rest are her own work. We have not talk to her about ghost as such, and when I asked her what is a ghost, her reply - A ghost is a scary thing. And If you know her, Zo Ee is a fact person, reading books on facts rather than fiction. So I didn't really expect such a story from her.

More Fraction - 3years 6months old

Zo Ee at 3years 6months old. (21st October 2011)

I thought this was cool, Zo Ee told me at breakfast today that 2/8 is equal to 1/4. She knew her simple fractions, about a year ago but mainly has to do with our pizza eating, like 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1/3,1/5. Today is something new.

Since she brought this up, I asked her whether she would like to do some fraction exercise and she was more than happy to agreed. Unfortunately, these were the only 2 pages we found in her workbook. She seems to understand the concept and needn't need any help at all.

Star! - 3years 6months old

Zo Ee at 3years 6months old. (19th October 2011)

Look at the Stars! This is my first time seeing her drawing stars. I think her handwriting "PUZZle WRiTing" is very good for her age.

Letter O - 3years 6months old

Zo Ee at 3years 6months old. (17th October 2011)

Drawings for letter "O" - Octopus, Ostrich, owl, otter and Oman (a country we visited last November). I particularly like the owl's feathers - she mixed brown and grey to make its texture.

Proud of her latest drawing for school, just before the long Diwali vacation

Beach Party - 3years 6 months old.

Zo Ee at 3years 6 months old. (16th October 2011)

Attended a birthday party at Beach Cafe of Park Hyatt Goa Resort today. It's the Park Hyatt GM's daughter first birthday. This is our 2nd time attending party there. It's one of the best resort in Goa, and was named the best Resort in Asia 2 or 3 years back. Zo Ee had a nice time playing with the kids at their beach. I've never attended such a luxury birthday parties in my life and here, at 3, Zo Ee's already attended two such parties. Here is the picture of her, in her swim wear.... having a break and some snack. I didn't expect her to show off her maths skill in the party. While having her snacks, she spotted some medium size pebbles on the tables. She arranged them into groups of 3 and started counting 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, etc. One of Zo Ee's friend Mummy introduced Zo Ee to another Mummy, "She is Zo Ee. She is a very very very smart girl. She is very smart. " Look at the way she described Zo Ee although she has no idea that Zo Ee can read and do maths and crazy over science and facts.

Another thing that surprised me was that Zo Ee actually asked Zac (birthday's girl brother) whether can she play inside his plastic pool. Initially, both DH and I were very sure that Zo Ee wanted to play inside the children plastic pool by the beach, but had been standing there observing and not joining in. We actually asked her to try to play inside it, but she remained silent and watching instead. Until one moment, we heard her asking, "Zac, May I play inside your plastic pool, please?" When Zac said Yes, immediately Zo Ee stepped into it.

Speech & Drama Class - 3years 6months old

Zo Ee at 3years 6months old. (15th October 2011)

Zo Ee attended her speech and drama class for the 2nd time today. She had a blast and loves it. Picking her up, I asked her teacher how is Zo Ee doing in the class, she replied me that she is a very creative girl while raising her eyebrows! So I asked Zo Ee about today's class, she said that she told the drama teacher that she wanted to be king Arthur, and her friends will be Kay, Sir Ector, Merlin, etc while raising one hand above her head with an imaginary sword, pretending to be Arthur. Ok. this is a drama class for 3 -5 years old, I wonder how many would understand what she 's talking about.

Spelling - 3years 6months old

Zo Ee at 3years 6months old. (12th October 2011)

2 days ago, Zo Ee asked for spelling, she never did before and this is the first time she actually asked me to test her. Since she can spell pretty well for her age (self-taught), as mentioned earlier, Zo Ee amazed us when we noticed that she could spell most 3-letter words at 26month old. And at 3 years 3months old - she could spell most 4-5 letter words accurately.

I'm taking this opportunity as a writing practice for her instead. Rather than really wanted her to learn more words, I'm asking her to write words that I know she could spell already, starting from 3 or 4-letter words. So she didn't really have to study or try to memorize them. Below are examples for the last two days.

11th October 2011

12th October 2011

12th October 2011

Went inviting - 3years 6months old

Zo Ee at 3years 6months old. (11th October 2011)

When I dropped Zo Ee at school today, her teacher asked me, " Did she tell you about what happen yesterday?" I have no idea since Zo Ee didn't say anything special other than being extra tired after school. Zo Ee's class teacher told me this morning that she took Zo Ee around the school to send out invitations to the headmaster, vice and all the big shots in school yesterday. This is not a small school considering the classes they offered; Nursery1, Nursery 2, Kindergarten, 1st Standard - 10th Standard, as the school has been divided into different sections with their own heads and occupying different blocks. No wonder, Zo Ee was so tired yesterday after school that she actually napped for 2 hours which she hasn't been for months. The walking to other blocks and the heat must have exhausted her plus the ongoing rehearsal for tomorrow Nursery 1 Poem Recitation Day. Her whole class will be reciting and performing the Hush, Little Baby (with acting) which her teacher modified to a longer version for all to take part in and a poem on My little Naughty Monkey.


So yesterday, Zo Ee was representing her section to invite those important people to witness their performance tomorrow. Her teacher taught her what to say and do just before hand and Zo Ee did the talking and handing out those invitation cards at each individual office. Her teacher said that she did so well and amazingly impressed all the invitees. I'm glad she was given the opportunity to boost her public skill (anyway so far she has no fear at all talking to strangers) and to carry on a special task like that. I think its such an invaluable learning and experience for her since this is not something she can get from her beloved books. What a good way to mark the day Zo Ee turned 3 years 6months old (yesterday). I'm very proud of her.

Here is a photo of her on the actual Recitation Day, today (13th October 2011).

The whole class is wearing Green blouse/shirt with Denim Shorts, plus a little makeup. Zo Ee was excited about the makeup since she did have some idea from her DVD, those kiddy ballet dancers getting ready for their performance and I'm not into make up myself. I don't really like children to wear makeup at such age but didn't want her to be left out since all her friends will be having them. She was very cooperative. Anyway, I just put very light makeup for her; eyeshadow, blusher and a lip gloss instead of lipstick. I'm not good at make up but I think she looks alright. This is how she looks with her make up!

Linking Addition with Multiplication - 3years 5months old

Zo Ee at 3years 5months old. (9th October 2011)

These 2 weeks, Zo Ee surprised me by trying to link addition sums with multiplication sums. A few of her examples that I could recall is

2 + 2 = 4 , 2x2 = 4
so 2+2 = 2x2

3 + 3 = 6, 3x2 = 6
so there are the same,
meaning 3 + 3 = 3 x 2

5 + 5 = 10 and 2 x 5 = 10
so 5+ 5 = 2 x 5

5 + 5 + 5+5 +5 = 25 and 5x5 = 25
so 5 + 5 + 5+5 +5 = 5x5

Maze-a shorter solution - 3years 5months old.

Zo Ee at 3years 5months old. (9th October 2011)

I'm surprised that there is a shorter solution solved by Zo Ee for this maze. After not doing any maze for 3-4 months, today, I'm also seeing that Zo Ee's maze solving skill has improved so much. Another growth spurt!

Given solution

Umbrella & clock - 3years 5months old

Zo Ee at 3years 5months old. (8th October 2011)




I think it's such a nice umbrella and a cute little clock from my little Zo Ee.

Prodigy? - 3years 5months old

Zo Ee at 3years 5months old. (4th October 2011)

Today, while on my way to pick Zo Ee up, I was stopped by another lady a few meters away from Zo Ee's class. She was saying, "Hi! You must be Zo Ee's Mummy." I smiled at her and said Yes. From my puzzled face she must have known that I have no idea who she is. Initially, I thought it must be another kid's mother from Zo Ee's class since she actually walked out from there earlier. She later introduced herself, saying that she is from another section of this school. She is teaching English for the 9th and 10th Standard in the school. [10th standard is the highest standard offered in this school; Nursery 1 (3 years old), Nursery 2 (4 years old), Kindergarten (5 years old), 1st Standard (6 years old), Secondary Standard is divided to middle section 5th Standard- 7th Standard and senior is 8th Standard -10th Standard.) English, Hindi, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Geography, EE, SUPW, PE, Computer Applications, Commerce and French are offered to the 9th and 10th Standard. At the end of 10th standard, students have to sit for the national board exams.] She was telling me that every teachers in the Nursery/ Kindergarten section has been talking about Zo Ee and that she is very famous in school. This teacher who didn't want to believe what she has heard; a 3 years old is reading at very high level? So the Nursery coordinator actually invited her over to judge for herself. And today, this teacher came over to Zo Ee's class with a book for her 10th standard pupils. I'm guessing she must have had her read to her. That's what Zo Ee said too. Zo Ee even asked that teacher, "What is your name?" before she left the room which cracked her class teachers.

This particular teacher commented:
"You have a prodigy child. She is amazing. Her reading will put my 9th & 10th Standard pupils to shame. Her reading is much beyond that. Until I met her just now, I would not have believe that a 3 years old could read at such high level. And she has photographic memory too. "

Sometimes, it's good to hear such comment especially from an English teacher(someone else other than me or DH to agree that she is reading at very high level) who has been teaching secondary school students for many years and from the best school in Goa. Also this is not the first time, someone has commented using the word Prodigy although most people preferred to use the word Genius to describe her. It's a little awkward to get such remark. And I really don't know how to react to such remark, other than just a smile while saying that she is gifted. But on the other hand, I just don't want her to be a topic in the school although the teachers are not doing it in front of her or in class.

1 whole Drawing - 3years 5months old

Zo Ee at 3years 5months old. (4th October 2011)

This is the first time I'm seeing Zo Ee drawing related pictures in one drawing (rather than many individual pictures scattering on one page). When I asked her why some of the people are not touching the ground, her replied "They are jumping in the air."

From left to right:
A-Jack-in-the-box with a Mickey hand. The first pink kid was thinking about MICKEY. The girl is skipping with a rope. The small purple boy is thinking about a flower flying in the air. The man is thinking about another Jack-in-the-box with a Mickey hand. A brown alien and also a flying helicopter in the sky.

Letter M - 3years 5months old.

Zo Ee at 3years 5months old. (4th October 2011)

I am guessing most her friends will be submitting pictures for the letter M such as mango etc and here Zo Ee chose Minnie and Mickey. She copied these from her colouring book.

Singing on stage -3years 5months old

Zo Ee at 3years 5months old. (1st October 2011)

Last Saturday night, we were attending DH's company function. We were walking past the stage and the singers on stage talked to Zo Ee and they asked her whether she would like to sing and she replied yes. I was very surprised she agreed to sing. Zo Ee sang 2 Hindi songs on stage, in front of about 50 people. She was cool and calm. The singers gave me this "WOW!" look for her singing and asked me about her age. Before bed that night, I asked her again, whether she will want to sing on stage again, and her answer was YES.

Last weekend, we got another positive remark on her singing at another restaurant. The waiter overheard her singing to herself and telling us that she sings so well. Hmm... Both Dh and I are not good at singing. I think she sings ok but many people commented that she never sings out of tune since young. I don't really know how to judge a toddler's singing.

Peace to the world - 3years 5months old

Zo Ee at 3years 5months old. (30th September 2011)

Look at my serious little girl; she's so into the Peace on Earth song by Bill Elliott. Look at her hands, they just cracked me up. She was swaying with her eyes closed along with the song too. There isn't any swaying or eyes closing or hands together in the video clip, very peaceful song and just purely her own reaction to that song.

Drawing for Grandma - 3years 5months old

Zo Ee at 3years 5months old. (1/10/2011)

Today, we intend to send grandma a birthday card. Zo Ee has this drawing especially for grandma to be send together. Six big candles and 3 little ones = 63rd birthday. There is a small heart next to it. Wondered when the hearts drawing started...she filled the cards with them. A caterpillar and an internal diagram of our body. Not sure what grandma will say about that! She wanted to label them and asked me to spell for her.

100 pcs puzzle - 3years 5months old

Zo Ee at 3years 5months old. (28th September 2011)

Zo Ee leisurely completed this new 100pcs puzzle at 1 hour 15 minutes. How is she doing? Is she fast or average? How much time do other kids need to finish such puzzle? Just some thoughts. Box stated that its for age 5+.

3months in Nursery - 3years 5months old.

Zo Ee at 3years 5months old. (26th September 2011)

Almost 3 1/2 months in her new school, minus one full month away (Australia) and another 1 week school holiday (Ganesh Festival), Zo Ee is doing great in her new school. Monsoon(raining season) is almost over and she is wearing socks and shoes to school instead of sandals. With the hot weather, seeing the sweating her, (she sweats more than the local kids), the teachers placed her directly under the class fan. She is happy (so far) and teachers like her especially her curious little mind with her huge knowledge to share with them. According to her teachers, she is very comfortable with them now, expressing and chatting with them on a daily basis. Opposing to the initial month, Zo Ee's very passive and preferred to observe than expressing herself like now. Zo Ee loves to share her knowledge with others and the teachers are acknowledging that, listening and asking her questions which allowed her to express more. They agreed that she is definitely special, especially seeing the way she observed and sees things/the world around her in a very different ways, much higher level than her friends. Teachers are always amazed with her little mind and doing. Last week, she was telling her teacher something about our body, that the heart is the organ that pumps blood in our body. Heart is also the center organ in our arteries system. When the teacher asked her how many kidneys are there is our body, she replied two. These are just a fraction of her huge knowledge and her teachers already showing this "WOW!" in their face.

In class, Zo Ee finished her work fast (baby work to her - if given the chance, you can finish the whole book in less than 30minutes), and spend the time chatting and talking to her teachers while her friends are still struggling with their work. I don't mind she has to do them, especially doing them neatly, correctly and quickly. Now, she gets the idea that once she has done them and submitted them, she is free to do things. She still cannot understand why her friends refused to do their work nicely or correctly, where some even can't hold a pencil correctly yet. To her, they are just naughty and refused to listen to their teachers. When I asked her whose work is the best. Without hesitation, she replied, "Mine." Teachers always said that my work is neat and beautiful. One month ago, her teachers even mentioned to me that they don't have to tell her anything, she'll know what to do and how to do them. I guess at that time, they have not realized that she is capable of reading the instructions yet although I have mentioned to them that she is capable of reading at high level, but they just don't quite get it especially at which level exactly.

Last year, when I took Zo Ee to see the school, we did meet the previous school coordinator, who did mention that they do have some kids joining them already reading but definitely not at Zo Ee's level. She mentioned that they allowed such kids to bring in stuff/books to do/read after they are finished their work. This year, her Nursery/Kindergarten section has a new coordinator ( they rotate every 3 years), and this new coordinator didn't know the whole story initially. She didn't see why I was anxious when Zo Ee started school 3 months ago. She and the teachers are positive all the time but they just thought that I'm just one of the many parents who boasted about their child and worries too much. I did told her that my main concern is for her to like school. I don't expect much from the school and was not sure whether she will learn much from school but I'll be very happy as long as Zo Ee is happy and enjoying school. 3 months passed, I didn't ask for any changes or specific requests since Zo Ee has been enjoying school. Learning the alphabets and numbers are just a minor part of the school days. I heard that they will learn 1- 30 this year. According to the coordinator, this school is very advanced comparing to the other schools, they do reading early, like they are teaching the alphabets with the phonics from 3 years old. They will introduce 3 words sentences next year for Nursery 2(4 years old) and number 1-100. Ok, none of these are relevant to Zo Ee since she is already reading and knows her numbers up to thousands, she knows what is million and trillion too. Anyway, they do learn more than that; topic of the weeks etc. For example last week, they were doing water transport and the teachers took them out to the beach (opposite the school, just crossed the road) to look at the "barge" passing by. They do a lot of art works where Zo Ee picked up new words and technics, eg. "Blotching" which the teachers did hang this word next to their works in class. I'm not sure how much other kids are absorbing or learning but Zo Ee is absorbing everything. Her writing improves tremendously although the teacher intention is to teacher the children how to recognize the alphabet, so she has been showing them the strokes and how to write them properly. I think they are doing the letter L now. Zo Ee just grabbed the concepts and applied them in her own writing. They are learning songs and dance and most importantly oral speaking. I really like this weekly oral speaking (public speaking) in class. Other that this, they already performed once and will be another coming this October (poem recitation for Nursery 1) - the whole class is performing and November (Children's day). So lots of activities to keep the children busy. Zo Ee has been assigned to play the keyboard and giving a long speech for the coming Children's Day.

On Monday, I bumped into the new coordinator, she stopped to talk to me, asking me how am I and how is Zo Ee doing? This lady that I have not talked to since the first week of school, is telling me that Zo Ee can read so well and she is such an amazing girl. She told me that they have started to pull her out of the class for higher reading and learning. I don't really know what but when I asked Zo Ee, she said there is this new teacher reading books with her. I am really liking this school. No wonder, this is the best school in Goa and parents queued long hours to get the admission forms and some even 24 hours. Dh actually queue for 8 hours last January. It's really worth the effort. Anyway, all these kids are from rich families since this is a local private school. I've seen kids coming to school in Porsche, Jaguar and fancy cars. They have very talented kids, musically talented kids and recently one 14 years old who just published an adult thriller book of 400 pages. The reason why I'm choosing this school is that it's fairly a good school with good teachers and just 5 minutes drive from our home.